maggiethecat

Canned beans of every race, religion, color and stripe.

Gawd, two of my favourite things in the world. Lucky lass.

Yes, please do! Congratulations, Rochelle. I'm all for the "farmhouse" table, even if it's never been within hectares of a barn. Looks right, feels right. Last summer I, along with a few other Chicago eGullet types catered a wedding. The kitchen was enormous but had minimal counter space. The owners bought a huge handsome table from Crate and Barrel, and the five of us did some pretty intensive cooking on it for five hours. I was far from the tallest, and even the six three guy didn't complain about back problems -- just foot problems. And, as I learned from my Nonna-in-law who cooked into her late nineties, there's a lot of cooking prep that can be performed seated! (I am, however, trying to imagine the perfect widgets that could be slipped under the table legs to raise it if necessary.)

It's nice to be right. I'm licking the cream off my whiskers and purring. I pulled out my bottle of Lea and Perrins and the first two ingredients are corn syrup and molasses, in that order. I trust you can balance the flavor.

I’ve never tasted Steen’s, so I don’t have much cred in suggesting a substitute. I do, however, know Worcestershire sauce, and much as I love my Lyles’ I don’t think the taste is assertive enough. It’s a little pricey, too. I’d suggest a mixture of light corn syrup, dark molasses and even a little honey. Your sweet sticky stuff would have a darker, funkier flavor. The real question here is what you’re going to do with all that W. sauce. Emeril’s Barbecue Srimp? VD Stew? Many. Many Bloody Caesars?

93, 241. It must have not passed unntoced that I haven't had a new cookbook since "Bouchon" at Christmastime and "Cooking of Trinidad" in February. I was cruising the capri pants at TJ Maxx today and found Tamasin Day-Lewis's "Tarts With Tops On" for seven dollars. Pie. Yum.

I don't expect my children to have the same passion for food as I do, but I hope they have some appreciation of its importance. ← I think that you will be amazed, delighted and surprised. Your kids, like mine, will cook. They will know the importance of Family Dinner, good restaurants great and small, and they'll learn to cook. For Honor's Senior Homecoming dance she asked the aged decepit 'rents to cater it. Nine years later I still get emails from her ex-boyfriends and always girlfriends talking about that dinner, which, as I remember was Big Time Italian. She is now the most adventuresome eater I know, and she actually cooks now and then. Your charming children will too. They will.

You need another French 75. What a perfect cocktail that is! Just assertive enought, the lemon and champagne in perfect balance. Thanks for reminding me about the French 75 -- I think Carter was President the last time I drank one. The 20th Century toubles me a little, because I really don't like chocolate in cocktails. Would it be the Twenty First Century if you left out the C de C? Lillet is such a rare treat to me that diluting it with C de C seems weird. (Then again, of course, I've never tasted one.)

Dean, I can't tell you how much I've enjoyed this blog. Yes, it made me wistful for the times my beautiful grown-up daughter was around, with her finger in every pot. And seriously, take heart: with the foundation you've given your kids in the joys of cooking anf eating and family they will know, as my Girl does, to try every kind of cuisine there is, and rejoice in the joy of food. That shot of you, Mrs. Dr. Varmint and the kids at the beach was very poignant to parents everywhere. And don't tell Mrs. Dr. V., but I'm a patsy for a man who can make a piecrust. What a super week. Could we get Everett a Man U jersey?

93,800. Welcome, all newcomers to this thread. Can 100,000 be that far away?

Check out July's Martha Stewart Living for all you will ever need to know about corn holders. The usual beautiful pix.

I sure picked a rotten time to catch up on this blog -- I'm starving, dinner's three hours away, and the food you've photographed looks so fabulous I am having a hard time not licking the screen. The squash casserole is a great idea -- if the kid's won't eat much send the leftovers to me. I made my first squash casserole last fall, and I love the stuff. (Not as much as I love the smile Benjamin's sporting these days!)

That's a really great idea, MM. I can probably find some of those in my linen closet.

Whoa. Brilliant. I have been a distracted and absent Dark Lady. I apologize. Smack 'em down fast: the panel of judges will deliberate on Saturday.

I've never heard of such a concept, but I think it has merit. Do it and report!

I'm a mere home cook, not a pro, so I have to take full resposibilty for my towel supply. I am likewise obsessed. I received three unbelieveably beautiful Hungarian damask tea towels at a bridal shower, in the year before Watergate. They are such works of art that I have one, still virgin, in the linen closet. I have bought lengths of blue and white striped towelling by the yard at fabric shops and hemmed my own. When I give a cookbook as a gift, I always use a towel rather than wrapping paper. I hit TJ Maxx and scoop up the remainders. I have decided that a fucntional point of view, the waffle-weaves are the best value, and I have regretfully given up white in favor of colors -- it just breaks my heart to see a towel scarred for life because of an encounter with a sizzling pot handle or some red wine. Whatever your preference, Ikea is the Mecca for towel freaks: Beauty, utility and dirt cheap prices. I stock up and hoard -- ten bucks will get you scads of high quality tea towels. ( I'm Canadian. We call 'em Tea Towels.)

Cheap readily-available hard cider. I had an experience similar to Marlene's with a couple of bouteilles se St. Antoine Abbaye.

Licorice Allsorts.

Caviar. No wonder I'm depressed...those ambrosial fish eggs come around only once every couple of years. Potatoes and Prozac together are unbeatable.

I haven't eaten dinner tonight, I'm starving, and I just read an account of what might be one of my favorite dinners on earth. Pork tenderloin, corn on the cob, mac and cheese, deviled eggs, peach ice cream, adorable children nearby... And sorry, Southern Man, this is standard Yankee/Midwest/Canadian food! It's All Good, but it ain't totally indigenous. (We Northerners roll over on our backs too often when those seductive Southerners talk about food! This is standard Midwest farmhouse fare.) Maybe I would have had a salad... Love the pix of the Farmer's Market. Took me back, very wistfully, to my trip, and lunch there at the first Pig Pickin'.

That's the one my mother has. Mine is from a different and anonymous maker, but very, very close. I agree with you about not using it for orange juice, but then again, the old Pyrex bumpy thing does a fine job with oranges.

92,792. I would kill for a blackberry cobbler .

I refer you to Anthony Bourdain in "Cook's Tour" for the most passionate, reasoned denunciation of veganism I've ever read. He makes the economic point too: In Viet Nam a chicken can literally be the difference between life and death for a family. They're supposed to hunt out all-organic nuts and berries?

Very, very close, andie. Mine sits sqautter, but the principle and general appearance are the same. (I should have known yoiu'd have one!) Another thought, Dave. There will be kids there, right? If they have some time on their hands, give them any old juicer and jars labelled "Lime" "Lemon" and "Orange." Think of a suitable bribe, and have them squeeze up a storm.

Have you given consideration to the Collins family, the Fizz clan and their sugar-free cousins, the Rickeys? All long and summery -- a lime rickey is amazingly refreshing. No family party is complete without a soda siphon, with which the kiddies can squirt each other while the grownups admire your mixology. (My brother and I passed many the cocktail hour getting soda water all over the kitchen walls.) Muddling technique is one of my measures of a man -- it's no matter for indifference.